[palosanto]

I have a strange problem trying to replace a pdf which is the base file for a song collection:
I have a pdf with a bunch of songs. I created a csv and split the song collection based on the pages where each song occupies and the pdf was split in individual songs correctly.
I noticed after a few days that there were a couple of pages in the pdf that were kind of blurry so I re-scanned them, updated the pdf and replaced the old pdf directly into the corresponding folder in the MSP files.
But now, when I go to any of the songs created previously, the annotations are gone and when I go to 'edit song>files' all the pages are listed instead of only the ones occupied by the particular song.
Nothing is different other than having now a cleaner pdf, but the same file name, same songs, same number of pages, etc.
I tried also via 'swap file' and I also loose the page index and the annotations.
Luckily I did a back up before updating the pdf.
What am I doing wrong?

[Zubersoft]

If a file is changed in the storage location, the next time MobileSheetsPro loads a song using that file, it will notice that the last modified timestamp has changed so it will scan the file for changes. This is mainly done to handle situations where the number of pages in the file has changed, or if cropping dimensions are used but the sizes of the pages has changed and those cropping coordinates are no longer valid. What is supposed to happen is, if the number of pages changed and the song was originally using the full range of pages, then it should continue using the full range of available pages. If the number of pages changed but the song was only using a subset of those pages, it will continue using the subset so long as the page range is still valid (otherwise it will adjust the page range to be valid). It sounds like MobileSheets is resetting the page range after your changes though. There is a setting that controls this - go to Settings->Other Settings->Reset Page Order if File Changed. You will want to make sure that is disabled, otherwise it might explain what you are seeing. Let me know if that setting is turned off yet you still see the page order reset.

Mike

[Geoff Bacon]

Annotations are stored in the database rather than in the pdf. This means that if you use MSP interfaces to change the file then you probably lose the annotations.
I believe that locating the file and manually replacing it outside MSP should work (but only if you are not reordering the pages in the file)

Should that not work then, for a small number of songs, I would have left the bulk of the large pdf and song entries unchanged and added new, separate, modified pdfs for the changed songs.

Alternatively, I suspect you could export the main pdf with the annotations embedded, use a pdf application to replace the necessary pages and use MSP to reimport/replace the pdf.
The disadvantage is that you might not be able to edit the embedded annotations and/or the MSP may take longer to process the file when loaded (I can't remember which of these applies)

One of my groups uses a multi song pdf and I have split it into individual pdf's. This is because I don't manage the book and have no control over where songs are inserted in it (requiring major editing of the CSV file, possibly affecting cropping if the page has been reformatted and maintaining the annotations). I suggest you split it into single PDFs together with loading the big pdf as a fall back in the event that you haven't noticed one a changed song).

Others may suggest different approaches

Geoff

[palosanto]

There is a setting that controls this - go to Settings->Other Settings->Reset Page Order if File Changed. You will want to make sure that is disabled, otherwise it might explain what you are seeing.

Clearing the setting seems to have done the trick.  Thanks.

A question for my education:
How should I proceed if I remove or insert a page in the middle of the pdf?  Is everything lost or is there a way to update manually the page numbers on the songs after the inserted or (deleted one)?  Would the annotations fall back in place or would I make a big mess? ...

[Zubersoft]

Inserting a page in the middle is going to be a problem as the annotations are assigned to a specific page, and if you change the underlying pages, the annotations won't be adjusted so they will show up on the wrong page. In that scenario, you would need to first embed the annotations in the PDF (go into the annotations editor, tap the three dots at the top right and then "Embed Annotations"), then edit the PDF with the annotations outside MobileSheetsPro to insert the new pages. I will support editing PDFs in the future as described in other recent forum posts to allow for the insertion of pages and other similar things. When I add support for those features, I will ensure that annotations are moved between pages as needed.

Mike

[palosanto]

I figured that it would create problems. 
Thanks Mike